Boseman pushes bill for erosion-control structures

State Sen. Julia Boseman has entered legislation that would - with regulatory approval - allow low-slung groins to be used to stabilize beachfront areas near inlets.

By Gareth McGrathStaff Writer

State Sen. Julia Boseman has entered legislation that would - with regulatory approval - allow low-slung groins to be used to stabilize beachfront areas near inlets.The proposal has been championed by coastal officials as a realistic and measured response to areas suffering from chronic erosion, namely beaches at ends of barrier islands.But the bill would punch a big hole in North Carolina's long-standing ban against allowing hardened structures along the oceanfront, with environmentalists and others fearing one structure would simply beget another as the erosion moved to another spot along the beachfront.The proposal would allow the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission to permit "terminal groins" at the ends of islands if the projects passed environmental review. A terminal groin, according to its proponents, differs from a traditional groin or jetties in having a very low profile and allowing some sand to pass over it. Groins generally trap all the sand passing by, leaving downdrift areas starved of sediment.Hardened structures now are banned from the state's beachfront except in very select situations, such as to protect vital infrastructure or historic sites.That has left coastal communities and oceanfront property owners with two long-term options for dealing with erosion - retreat and beach nourishment.But officials have complained that pulling back from the encroaching ocean isn't physically or financially feasible on fully-developed barrier islands, and beach-building projects are expensive and can take years to win regulatory approval. They also are largely ineffective along inlet-influenced beaches, where the sand simply washes away.That's led to sandbags, which are supposed to be only a temporary erosion-control measure, to become de facto seawalls along many beaches.State regulators after years of dithering are now pushing to get the sandbags that have been in place the longest, a dozen years or more in some cases, off the oceanfront.Boseman's bill states that the terminal groins at Fort Macon on the east end of Bogue Banks and at the north end of Pea Island on the Outer Banks, the only two such structures in the state, have been successful.The legislation also states that a terminal groin differs in "form and in function from other erosion-control structures like seawalls and jetties."But environmentalists and some coastal researchers have disputed both of those statements.Areas in Southeastern North Carolina that could be prime candidates for a terminal groin include the north end of North Topsail Beach, the north end of Figure Eight Island, the east end of Ocean Isle Beach, and west beach on Bald Head Island.Co-sponsors of the legislation are senators R.C. Soles, D-Columbus, Harry Brown, R-Onslow, and Jean Preston, R-Carteret.This is not the first time legislation to allow terminal groins has been pushed in Raleigh.But the bill sponsored by Soles two years ago, which would have allowed a single terminal groin as an experimental project, got sandbagged in the House after passing the Senate.Gareth McGrath: 343-2384gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com

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